Inside Serval: Building the System of Intelligence for IT | Jake Stauch
Inside Serval: Building the System of Intelligence for IT | Jake Stauch  
Podcast: The Peel with Turner Novak
Published On: Fri Feb 27 2026
Description: Jake Stauch is the Co-founder and CEO of Serval. Serval automates IT with AI.We talk taking on incumbents with an AI-native product, why IT departments haven’t had much automation historically, the 12+ month journey of landing their first customer, and how teams can increase talent density as they scale.Try Numeral, the end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance: [https://www.numeral.com⁠](https://www.numeral.xn--com-xw0a/)Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000: https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFzTimestamps:(0:14) AI-native employee support(5:15) How an early work trial almost ended the entire company(9:05) Why IT hasn’t had much automation(13:09) Vibe coding for IT professionals(15:31) Competing against publicly traded incumbents(23:32) Having less than three months of runway for seven years building his first hardware consumer health startup(33:15) Lessons from five years at Verkada(39:11) The single question that led birthed the idea for Serval(44:19) Navigating 12+ months of zero revenue(52:05) Knowing when not to pivot(55:15) Finally landing the first three customers(58:07) Getting pre-empted for a Series A(1:01:04) Getting a Series B term sheet the next day(1:05:54) How to structure design partnerships that convert(1:08:48) Building a mirror instead of system of record(1:13:49) Make the implementation part of the product(1:15:24) How to increase talent density as you scale(1:21:32) Why every new hire should help you recruitReferencedTry Serval: https://www.serval.com/Careers at Serval: https://www.serval.com/careersEpisode with Filip @ Verkada: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXI3GdicIHwFollow JakeTwitter: https://x.com/jakeservalLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestauchFollow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/